Mexico Wants All Its Children Speaking Fluent English

Ambitious goal from the country’s education secretary proposed as making them more competitive.

Mexico has announced a new endgame over the next 20 years: make sure all school-aged children are fluent in English. The ambitious goal is the brainchild of Education Secretary Aurelio Nuño as part of the overhaul of Mexico’s education system since the election of President Enrique Peña Nieto four years ago, The Washington Post reports.

The plan over the next 10 years is for teachers to learn English in college and then get placed in elementary and high schools to pass on their knowledge of the language.

“The first step is that they are bilingual,” Nuño said. “If we do that, we will be halfway down the road.”

Joshua Parlow, The Post’s bureau chief in the country, says Mexico has “an eye to making its population more competitive in the global economy.” However, the real question is how this could impact illegal immigration to the U.S. if the children are fluent in English. Though the piece is strictly focused on how this improves Mexico, the immigration factor is on Parlow’s mind as he jabs Trump in his opening line: “President Trump may want to wall off America's southern neighbor, but Mexico is still happy to talk.”

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